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The boss of British Gas laid bare the company’s struggles with competition and costs yesterday, on the same day that his former colleagues at BP toasted a fourfold profit boom.

Iain Conn, chief executive of the ­energy supplier’s FTSE 100 parent company Centrica, said operating profits fell by a fifth compared to the first half of last year to £430m as rising market prices drove its costs higher.

British Gas grappled with the climbing costs while saddled with a government price cap for homes using pre-payment meters, and the loss of around 340,000 customers in the first six months of this year alone.

Meanwhile, Mr Conn’s former employers at BP toasted the group’s first dividend hike in four years...